A federal jury ruled Friday that Masimo’s smartwatch infringes Apple’s patents, but Apple doesn’t make a big paycheck.
The company was only asking for the legal minimum of $250, and that’s all that was sold, Bloomberg Law reported. “We’re not here for the money,” Apple attorney John Desmarais reportedly told jurors. Instead, he said, the company wants Masimo to “stop copying our designs.”
The company may have been disappointed in that respect. The jury found that the original design of Masimo’s W1 Freedom and Health module, and its original charger, infringed Apple’s patents and that the infringement was willful.
However, Masimo said in a statement that the findings only apply to “discontinued modules and chargers” and not to current products.
“Apple primarily sought an injunction against Masimo’s current products, and the jury’s verdict is a victory for Masimo on this issue,” the medical device company said.
The case is part of Apple’s counterclaim in its ongoing legal battle with Masimo, which claims its patents are infringed by the Apple Watch’s pulse oximetry feature, which allows Apple Watch owners to measure blood oxygen levels. This is the result. Apple disabled this feature on the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2, and the new Series 10 also doesn’t have this feature. These restrictions apply only to the United States, and Apple is suing to ban imports of models with the features at issue.
Desmerais reportedly told the jury that the pulse oximetry feature “has nothing to do with this case.”
